OpenFields

1618: History of crop biotechnology

This paper is summarised from a Nature Education Knowledge Project publication with the citation: Wieczorek, A. M. & Wright, M. G. (2012) History of Agricultural Biotechnology: How Crop Development has Evolved. Nature Education Knowledge 3(3):9.

Year of Publication2012

A simple guide from gathering to domestication of crops and selection for desirable traits through Mendel to selective cross breeding, induced mutation and genetic engineering. All types of agriculture modify genes of plants but in traditional breeding crosses are made in an uncontrolled manner and the results are unpredictable. Genetic engineering permits highly targeted transfer of genes and increased efficiency in developing new crop varieties with desirable traits.